Wednesday, October 22, 2008

NORMAN!

The late Anthony Perkins appeared in many films and television shows but will always be remembered best as Norman Bates. In fact, I don't think there is one person out there who can honestly say that anyone else could have come close to the performance he gave in the original Psycho. They tried to have another person play Norman but it failed. There is only one Norman Bates and that's Anthony Perkins. But did you know he also had a singing career? This is true. During the late fifties, Anthony Perkins released several albums of his singing that actually sold rather well. In fact, he had a hit single in 1957 with the song “Moon-Light Swim.” It began in 1956 after he sang “A Little Love Goes a Long, Long Way” during a Goodyear TV Playhouse production of Joey. Executives at Epic Records were impressed with Perkins’ vocal abilities and they offered him a recording contract, which led Perkins to record a self-titled album for Epic in 1957 under the name Tony Perkins. Afterward he recorded two albums for RCA called From My Heart and On a Rainy Afternoon, both released in 1958. When his role in William Wyler’s film Friendly Persuasion began receiving a lot of praise Perkins decided to pursue his acting career more seriously and he never recorded another album. All of his albums have an obvious jazz influence. His first record was produced and arranged by West Coast jazz legend Marty Paich who’s better known for his work with artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Rich, Shorty Rogers and Mel Tormé. There’s even a hint of Chet Baker’s influence in some of his recordings. Here is one of those records, the first one, "Tony Perkins." I have "On a Rainy Afternoon" but have not uploaded yet. Maybe next October! Here's Anthony Perkins singing away! Enjoy!

An interesting side note about Perkins that you may not know: He died on September 12, 1992. Nine years later, on September 11, 2001, his wife, Berry Berenson, was killed when the plane she was on hit the World Trade Center.

BONUS:Even though he played Norman Bates, I didn't think this post was "Halloween-y" enough so I decided to post the soundtrack from the film that brought Perkins to fame. Here is the soundtrack to Psycho. Enjoy!

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